ADPC, RIMES and the World Bank organized a series of online meetings from September 8 to 17, to introduce Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) for South Asia Project to stakeholders and to officially mark the beginning of project implementation in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. About 20 meetings were held throughout September and attended by local government agencies working for agriculture, water resources, transport, finance and planning.
On September 8-9, meetings were organized with government agencies in Nepal, namely the Ministry of Finance, the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, the Ministry of Forests and Environment, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority, the Department of Roads, the Ministry of Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, the National Planning Commission, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development.
Similarly, meetings were held on September 14-15 with Pakistan stakeholders — the Punjab Agriculture Development, the Ministry of Climate Change, the Sindh Irrigation Department, and the Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives.
Lastly, on September 16-17, meetings were arranged with project stakeholders in Bangladesh, including the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, the Local Government Engineering Department, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Planning Commission.
The discussions at the meetings were focused on the support to be provided for the project activities, review of designating country focal points and identification of resources needed for project implementation.
After the conclusion of the online meetings, ADPC and RIMES held follow-up consultations with the stakeholders to confirm the project’s work plan for 2020-2021, and to identify the focal points from each stakeholder. The assessments of user needs and system requirements are expected to happen from October to November.